How to Use Ontrack EasyRecovery Home — Step‑by‑Step Tutorial
What you’ll need
- A Windows PC or Mac with Ontrack EasyRecovery Home installed.
- A separate drive to save recovered files (recommended).
1. Install and open the app
- Download and run the installer from the official Ontrack site and follow prompts.
- Launch EasyRecovery Home and accept any necessary permissions.
2. Choose a recovery scenario
- Select the appropriate option on the main screen (e.g., Deleted File Recovery, Formatted Drive, Lost Partition, or RAID/file system recovery).
- For general deleted or accidentally lost files, pick “Deleted File Recovery” or “Files & Folders.”
3. Select the drive or device to scan
- Choose the drive, partition, or external device where the files were lost.
- If you don’t see the device, ensure it’s connected and recognized by your OS.
4. Configure scan type
- Quick Scan: faster, finds recently deleted files.
- Deep Scan: slower, searches the whole volume and file signatures — use when Quick Scan fails.
- Check or toggle any file-type filters if you only need specific types (documents, photos, video, etc.).
5. Run the scan
- Start the scan and wait. Deep Scans can take from minutes to hours depending on size.
- You can usually preview files during or after the scan.
6. Preview results
- Browse scan results by folder, file type, or a reconstructed folder tree.
- Use the built-in preview to verify files (images, documents, some video formats).
7. Select files to recover
- Mark the files/folders you want to restore.
- Avoid selecting everything blindly — prioritize the most important items.
8. Recover to a safe location
- Click Recover and choose a different drive than the source (external USB or another internal drive) to avoid overwriting.
- Confirm and begin recovery. Monitor progress and verify recovered files when finished.
9. If recovery fails
- Try re-running a Deep Scan if initially used Quick Scan.
- Use file-type-specific filters or signature scanning if available.
- Consider creating a disk image first and running recovery on the image to prevent further damage.
10. After recovery
- Verify recovered files open correctly.
- Back up important files to a separate drive or cloud storage.
- If hardware failure is suspected, stop using the drive and consult a professional data‑recovery service.
Notes and tips
- Stop using the affected drive immediately after data loss to maximize recovery chances.
- Always recover to a different target drive.
- Keep expectations realistic: overwritten or physically damaged data may be unrecoverable.
If you’d like, I can produce a concise checklist you can print and follow during a recovery session.
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